attack, he felt very confident of success. He contemptuously said of
the Grand Vizier: “This man is badly encamped. He knows nothing of war.
We shall certainly beat him.” In an address to his troops he said:—
Warriors and friends, yonder on the plains are our enemies, in
numbers greater indeed than at Choczim, where we trod them underfoot.
We have to fight them on a foreign soil, but we fight for our own
country, and under the walls of Vienna we are defending those of
Warsaw and Cracow. We have to save to-day not a single city but the
whole of Christendom, of which the city of Vienna is the bulwark.
The war is a holy one. There is a blessing on our arms and a crown
of glory for him who falls.... The infidels see you now above their
heads, and with hopes blasted and courage depressed are escaping
among the valleys destined to be their graves. I have but one command
to give—Follow me! The time is come for the young to win their
spurs.[27]
Kara Mustapha, when he saw the Christian army on the heights above
him, made immediate preparations for battle. He gave orders for the
massacre of thirty thousand Christian captives, mostly women and
children, taken prisoners on the route to Vienna and destined to be
sold as slaves. Leaving the best of his men, the Janissaries, in the
trenches before the city, he concentrated the main part of his army to
meet the attack of the Poles from the rear. Sobieski ranged his army
in a great semicircle and made a general advance against the Turks.
The Tartar irregulars fled and carried confusion to the rest of the
army. Sobieski then led his best troops direct against the centre
of the Turks. The mass of the Ottoman army was broken and routed.
Terrible slaughter followed, and the whole of the Turkish camp, with
immense booty, fell into the hands of the Christians. The Janissaries
in the trenches before the city were then attacked on two sides, by
the victorious Poles from the rear and by the Viennese garrison on the
front. They were cut to pieces and annihilated. The victory of Sobieski
was complete and final. Three hundred guns, nine thousand ammunition
wagons, and twenty-five thousand tents were captured.
The Turkish army was driven from the field and, panic-stricken, took
to flight. Untold thousands of them were killed, together with great
numbers of pashas and generals. Kara Mustapha escaped with the mob of
fugitives, carrying with him the sacred banner of the Prophet. The
débris of the army found its way to Raab, and thence to Buda, where the
Grand Vizier ordered the execution of some of the best officers of the
army, whom he falsely accused of being responsible for the disaster.
He himself then made his way to Belgrade, where, in his turn, he was
put to death, with much more justification, by order of the Sultan.
His immense and ill-gotten wealth was confiscated by the State. He had
lived in unprecedented splendour. In his harem were fifteen hundred
concubines, attended each by a servant, and seven hundred eunuchs
to guard them. His own personal servants and horses were counted by
thousands.
The second siege of Vienna, thus brought to so glorious an end by
its brave garrison and by Sobieski, differed essentially from that
undertaken by Sultan Solyman in 1529. Solyman was compelled to raise
the siege and to retreat by the failure of food and munitions. He met
with no reverse in the field, and he was able to withdraw his army
intact. Mustapha fought a pitched battle against a very inferior army
coming in relief of the city, and was defeated, and his army was routed
and broken up. There never was a greater disaster to an army or to a
general. It brought most serious results to the Ottoman Empire. It
broke once for all the prestige of the Turks as a conquering nation.
It removed the fear of an Ottoman invasion which for two centuries had
been a nightmare to the Central States of Europe.
The attack on Vienna was practically the last effort of the Ottomans
to extend their Empire into an enemy’s country. Henceforth they were
almost always on the defensive. It will be seen that the defeat of the
huge army by Sobieski resulted in the loss to the Turks of the greater
part of their conquests in Hungary, and that, in a few years, it led to
their being driven across the Danube.
Sobieski and Lorraine, after their great victory in front of Vienna,
followed it up with vigour. At Paskenay they fell into an ambuscade
prepared for them by the retreating Turks and lost two thousand men,
but two days later they attacked the enemy and defeated them with
great slaughter. The bridge of boats across the Danube by which the
Turks retreated was broken by the rush of fugitives and seven thousand
were killed or drowned. The Christian army then pressed on to Gran
and invested and captured that important fortress. It had been in
possession of the Turks for many years. Henceforth it was a rampart of
Austria and Hungary against them. This concluded the year’s campaign.
The Austrians and Poles went into winter quarters.
Meanwhile the effect of the great victory at Vienna was to stimulate
other Powers to join the combination against the Turks. The Pope
preached another crusade against them—the fourteenth. The Republic of
Venice fitted out a fleet, which was joined by galleys of the Pope,
the Knights of Malta, and the Grand Duke of Tuscany. In the following
year this fleet attacked and captured the island of Santa Maura and the
city of Prevesa, at the entrance to the Gulf of Arta. A Venetian army
also invaded Bosnia and Albania.
In this year also (1684) the Austrians, under Lorraine, issuing from
Gran, crossed the Danube and attacked and defeated the Turks at Warzen,
and again in another battle before Buda, and then besieged that
fortress. But after some weeks they were compelled by the rainy season
and disease in the army to raise the siege and retreat. Meanwhile
another Austrian army advanced into Croatia and fought and defeated the
Turks. As a result of this the province of Croatia, which had been for
one hundred and fifty-one years under Turkish rule, was freed from it,
and was thenceforward an Austro-Hungarian possession.
In the following year, 1685, the Austrians made further progress. The
important stronghold of Neuhausel, which twenty-two years previously
had been captured by the Turks, was now recaptured after a desperate
resistance. Of its garrison of three thousand men only two hundred
survived. The women and children of the Turks were sold to landowners
in the Austrian Empire. The capture of this city was the cause of great
rejoicing throughout Europe. In 1686 the siege of Buda was renewed. The
Imperial army consisted of ninety thousand men—Germans, Hungarians, and
Croats. It was under the command of the Prince of Lorraine. The siege
was commenced on June 18th. Three attempts to relieve it under Grand
Vizier Solyman failed. After six weeks of siege the Austrians assaulted
and captured the city. Its brave defender, Abdi Pasha, and its garrison
perished, and the city was given up to ruthless sack. The city had been
in possession of the Turks for a hundred and forty-five years, and
during this time had resisted successfully six sieges. It now passed
finally into the hands of the Hungarians.
The campaign of the following year, 1687, was opened on the Drave. The
Grand Vizier led an army of fifty thousand men and sixty-six guns. It
met the Austrians at Mohacz on the very field where, a hundred and
sixty years previously, the Hungarians had been defeated in the battle
which gave one-half of their country to the Turks. The Ottomans were
now in their turn defeated and routed. Twenty thousand of them were
killed, while the loss of the successful army was only a thousand.
Slavonia was in the same year cleared of all Turkish forces, and was
permanently restored to Austria, while in Transylvania the Voivode
Apafy, who owed his position to the Turks, now turned against them.
Meanwhile the Venetians had been equally successful during the past
three years. Their army, under Morosini, invaded the Morea in 1686,
captured all its strongholds, and drove the Turks from the country.
They also successfully invaded Dalmatia. In 1687 they attacked and
captured the Piræus and Athens. It was on this occasion that the
Parthenon, which, in spite of many centuries of war and dangers of
all kinds, still existed in all its original grandeur and beauty,
was irreparably ruined. The Turks had made use of it as a powder
magazine, thinking probably that it was safe from attack. A bomb from
the Venetian batteries exploded there, whether purposely or not, and
converted the temple into a ruin as we now see it. The whole of Greece
was now practically in the hands of the Venetians. The Greek population
had given no aid to the Turks in resisting the new invaders. They had
soon to learn that there was little to choose between their old and
their new masters. If anything, the Venetians proved to be the more
tyrannical and rapacious.
On the conclusion of the campaign of 1687 in Hungary the Turkish
army, as a result of its long series of defeats, was seething with
discontent, and was almost in a state of mutiny. Its leading officers
met and petitioned the Sultan, demanding the dismissal and execution
of its general, the Grand Vizier Solyman. They elected Siawousch
Pasha as their general. The army then retreated across the Danube
to Philippopolis, and thence to Adrianople, from whence it sent a
deputation to the Sultan to enforce its views. The Sultan summoned
a great Council of State, at which it was decided to accede to the
demands of the army. Siawousch Pasha was appointed Grand Vizier in
place of Solyman, who was soon after put to death by order of the
Sultan. It was hoped by this concession to appease the army, and to
prevent its march to Constantinople. The army, however, persisted
in its threatening attitude and renewed its march to the capital.
It now increased its demands. It insisted on the deposition of the
Sultan. There was general concurrence in this among officials at
Constantinople. Mustapha Kiuprili, the brother of the late Ahmed
Kiuprili, who was Kaimachan, and performed the duties of Grand Vizier
in his absence from the capital, called an assembly of ulemas at St.
Sophia. He addressed them in these words:—
Since the Padishah thinks only of diverting himself in the chase, and
at the time when the Empire is assaulted from all quarters we have
seen him dismiss all men capable of repairing our misfortunes, can
you doubt any longer that the dethronement of a Padishah who thus
conducts the affairs of the State is legally permitted?
The ulemas unanimously concurred. They decided on the dethronement
of Sultan Mahomet and his replacement on the throne, not by his son,
but by his legal heir, his next brother, Solyman. They then betook
themselves to the abode in the Seraglio where that prince was secluded,
called him forth, and announced to him their decision, citing in favour
of it a verse from the Koran: “We have named you to be Khaliff of the
country.”
There was no opposition to this. Solyman, who had spent his life in
seclusion, in constant fear of being murdered by his brother, and
who was only saved by the brave efforts of the Sultana Validé, his
mother, came out of what was virtually a prison to be invested with the
insignia of Sultan. Mahomet, who had reigned as Sultan for thirty-nine
years, which he had devoted wholly to the chase, to the neglect of
every duty of his great office, retired to the secluded building which
his brother had occupied so long. He died there a few years later,
regretted by no one.
Von Hammer gives a detailed account of one of Sultan Mahomet’s
organized expeditions in pursuit of game, which may be worth quoting
as an illustration of his pursuits and character. The scene of it was
between Adrianople and Tirnova, and it occurred in 1683, the year in
which his army was engaged in the invasion of Austria and on the siege
of Vienna. Thirty thousand peasants were brought from all parts for
the purpose of beating the woods and putting up the game. For their
subsistence a levy was made on the district of 150,000 marks. This
battue cost the lives of a great number of beaters, who succumbed to
the fatigue of the operations. Many rayas were brought from as far as
Belgrade for the occasion. The Sultan, on seeing the bodies of those
who had perished, said to his followers: “These men would doubtless
have rebelled against me. They have received their punishment in
anticipation of this.”
Mahomet, it would seem, owed his deposition not so much to his own
callous neglect of his duties as Sultan as to the arrogant incapacity
of Kara Mustapha in his campaign against Vienna and the imbecility of
the two succeeding Grand Viziers, Ibrahim and Solyman.
Solyman, who thus mounted the throne in 1687, at the age of forty-one,
showed greater capacity than was to be expected after his long
seclusion in ‘the Cage,’ but he was quite unequal to the task of
controlling the mutinous Janissaries. They filled Constantinople with
riot and slaughter. They pillaged the palaces of the viziers and
others. They attacked the harem of the Grand Vizier Siawousch, whom
they had so recently elevated to the post. He was killed in bravely
defending his harem. His favourite wife and sister were dragged naked
through the streets after being cruelly mutilated. The disorder of the
capital became so unendurable that the population rose in arms and
assisted the authorities in resisting the Janissaries. Their Agha and
principal officers were put to death, and order was at last restored.
In the spring of the next year, 1688, a well equipped army was sent
to the Hungarian frontier, in the hope of retrieving the defeats of
the past five years. The Austrians, however, had made good use of the
interval. They had now three armies in the field, under the command of
Prince Charles of Lorraine, Prince Louis of Baden, and Prince Eugène
of Savoy—all three generals of exceptional ability. They invested the
fortress of Erlau and captured it. The road to Belgrade now lay open to
them. This supremely important city, the bulwark to the Balkans and the
gateway to Hungary, was treacherously surrendered by its garrison in
August 1688 after a bombardment of only twenty-one days. Prince Louis
of Baden about the same time invaded Bosnia and occupied a great part
of it. Dalmatia revolted and threw over Turkish rule. Nisch was later
occupied by the Austrians, and Widdin, on the Danube, fell into their
hands. By 1689 the only fortresses in Hungary remaining to the Turks
were Temesvar and Warardin.
Farther eastward the Turks had been more fortunate. An army of
Tartars from the Crimea overran Poland in 1688 and defeated a Polish
army on the Sereth. In the following year, when Russia joined in the
combination against the Ottomans and sent an army into the Crimea,
it met with a severe defeat. These were the only rays of light to
the Turks. Elsewhere they met with a succession of disasters. The
Balkan provinces, for the first time since the days of Hunyadi, were
threatened by the Austrians. Parts of Bosnia and Serbia were in their
hands. The whole of Greece and Albania had been conquered by the
Venetians, under Morosini, and the Turkish fleets had been swept off
the Mediterranean by the combined fleets of Venice, the Pope, the
Knights of Malta, and the Duke of Tuscany. On the Ottoman side no
single general of any capacity had appeared.
It was under these conditions that a general council of the Empire was
summoned at Adrianople at the end of 1689. After a long discussion,
it advised the Sultan to appoint as Grand Vizier Zadé Kiuprili, who
had been passed over by Sultan Mahomet IV in favour of the corrupt and
incompetent Kara Mustapha after the death of Ahmed Kiuprili. After
thirteen years of misgovernment and calamity this third member of the
Kiuprili family was called to power. He showed at once great vigour
and capacity. Addressing the chief dignitaries of the Empire, he
described the perilous condition of affairs: “If we go on as we have
been in the past, another campaign will see the enemy encamped before
Constantinople.” He took immediate steps to restore the financial
position.
Zadé Kiuprili repleted the treasury by heavy contributions on the
officials, who had enriched themselves at the expense of the public. He
filled the ranks of the army by calling out veterans. He revived the
Ottoman navy. He fitted out a flotilla of vessels for service on the
Danube. He replaced a number of incompetent and corrupt governors by
honest men on whom he could rely. He endeavoured to win the support of
the Christian rayas throughout the Empire. He issued imperative orders
to all governors and pashas that no one should be allowed to oppress
the rayas. No taxes were to be levied on them except the capitation
tax. He allowed the Christians everywhere to build churches, though he
himself was a most strict Mussulman. He freed trade from many unwise
and unnecessary restrictions. He was personally austere and simple in
his habits, very reserved in his utterances. It was said of him that
he never committed a crime and never used a superfluous word. He was
commonly called ‘Kiuprili the Virtuous.’ Unfortunately for his country,
he held the post of Grand Vizier for less than two years, for it will
be seen that he was killed in battle in 1691.
At the time when he assumed the Grand Vizierate the Austrians had
crossed the Danube and had advanced far into Macedonia. Kiuprili sent
an army against them and defeated them in two engagements. As a result,
nearly all the important posts south of the Danube were recovered and
the pressure on the Empire in this quarter was removed. Zadé Kiuprili
now took command of the army in person, and in August, 1690, advanced
through Bulgaria, drove the Austrians from their position between
Sofia and Nisch, and besieged and captured the latter place. He then
attacked and captured in succession Semendria, Widdin, and Belgrade.
Another Ottoman army under Tekeli Pasha invaded Transylvania and drove
the Austrians from it. Kiuprili returned to Constantinople covered with
glory.
About this time Sultan Solyman died and was succeeded by his brother,
Achmet II, who, like himself, had been brought up in the seclusion
of the Seraglio, and was quite incompetent to rule the Empire or to
lead its armies. Fortunately he left matters in the hands of his Grand
Vizier. Kiuprili again led the army in the field and, advancing from
Belgrade in May, 1696, marched northwards on the right bank of the
Danube to meet the Austrians under Prince Louis of Baden, who were
advancing from Peterwardein. The two armies met at Salankemen. Their
flotillas engaged on the Danube and the Turks were there the victors.
But on land the battle ended in great disaster to them. Against the
advice of the most experienced of his generals, Zadé Kiuprili insisted
on fighting, without waiting for reinforcements that were on their way.
A most desperate battle took place in which the Turks were completely
defeated. The Grand Vizier, in the hope of restoring the fortunes of
the day, rushed into the mêlée, sword in hand, and was killed while
hewing his way through the Austrian ranks. The Turkish troops were
dispirited by the death of their general and gave way. Panic and rout
followed. The Turkish camp and a hundred and twenty guns fell into
the hands of the Austrians. About the same time Tekeli Pasha was also
defeated by the Austrians and was driven out of Transylvania. The
Ottoman Empire was again at a very low ebb after these disasters.
Sultan Achmet died heartbroken by the burden of shame and grief, and
was succeeded by his nephew, Mustapha II, the son of Mahomet IV.
The new Sultan was not wanting in the will to relieve the plight of
his country, but it will be seen that he had not the capacity or the
persistency required in such an emergency. He fully recognized that the
main causes of disaster were the dissolute habits and incapacity of his
predecessors. Immediately after his accession to the throne he issued a
Hatti-Scheriff in which he announced his intention of restoring ancient
usages and leading his armies in person. In the course of this notable
document he said:—
Under monarchs who are the slaves of pleasure or who resign
themselves to indolent slumber, never do the servants of God enjoy
peace or repose. Henceforth voluptuousness, idle pastime, and sloth
are banished from this Court. While the Padishahs who have ruled
since the death of our sublime father Mahomet have heeded naught
but their fondness for pleasure and for ease, the unbelievers, the
unclean beings, have invaded with their armies the four frontiers of
Islam. They have subdued our provinces. They have pillaged the goods
of the people of Mahomet. They have dragged away into slavery the
faithful with their wives and little ones. This is known to all, as
it is known to me. I therefore have resolved, with the help of the
Lord, to take a signal revenge upon the unbelievers, that brood of
hell; and I will myself begin the holy war against them.... Do thou,
my Grand Vizier, and ye others, my viziers, my ulemas, my lieutenants
and agas of my armies, do ye all of you assemble round my person
and meditate well on this my imperial Hatti-Scheriff. Take counsel
and inform me if I ought to open hostilities in person against the
Emperor or remain at Adrianople. Of these two measures choose that
which will be most profitable to the Faith to the Empire and to the
servants of God.[28]
In response to this, the Divan met and discussed for three days whether
the new Sultan should command in person the army about to be sent
against the Austrians. They came to an adverse decision. They thought
that it would not only expose the sacred person of the Sultan to too
much risk, but would also involve excessive expense. They probably
thought also, but scarcely dared to express it, that the Sultan, being
quite inexperienced in military matters, would be an encumbrance to
the army. They advised the Sultan that he ought not to commit his
imperial person to the chances of a campaign, but would do better to
leave the conduct of the war to the Grand Vizier. The Sultan replied
in the laconic words, “I persist in marching.” In accordance with
this decision, Mustapha in person, in spite of his inexperience,
led a well appointed army in the summer of 1696 from Belgrade to
Temesvar, capturing on the way various minor fortified places. His
first encounter with the enemy near Temesvar was successful. The
Austrians were defeated with heavy loss and Temesvar was relieved.
Mustapha, however, did not pursue his success further. He returned to
Constantinople and there received an ovation.
In the following year, 1697, Mustapha again marched with his army
from Belgrade into Hungary, without any definite plans as to what he
proposed to do. After many councils of war and much irresolution, it
was decided to advance northwards to the River Theiss. The Austrian
army was now under command of Prince Eugène of Savoy, who, we have
seen, made his début at the siege of Vienna. He was the ablest general
of his time. The two armies met at Zenta on the River Theiss, about
sixty miles above its junction with the Danube. The Turks had erected
a bridge over the river at this point. The Sultan and his cavalry,
and a great part of the artillery, had already crossed the bridge.
The infantry were still on the other side. Prince Eugène with his
army, coming suddenly upon them, caught the Turkish army _in flagrante
delicto_, divided by the river. Advancing in a wide crescent, he
attacked the whole line of the Ottoman infantry who had not crossed
the river. There was great confusion in the ranks of the Ottomans and
discord among the leading officers and a want of direction. A large
body of Janissaries mutinied on the field of battle and began to
massacre their officers. There ensued an overwhelming defeat of the
Ottomans. Twenty-six thousand Turks were slain on the battlefield and
ten thousand were drowned in their attempt to cross the river.